MAT Abacus Business School principal and country team leader Samuel Sejjaaka believes CFOs must create value for the business beyond the finance function. He dives into the transition from CFO to CEO and why finance executives should embrace the relentless pursuit of knowledge.
What made you join the panel of judges for the 2025 CFO awards for East Africa?
Training has always been my passion. You will realise that even though I am a CPA myself, I have tended to be more on the side of training. I have obtained so much satisfaction in inspiring others to become better than me. So, for me participating in this process is really a natural extension of what I do. It is more like I am now being involved in a process of assessing my protégés, the people who do the real work. So, that is why I became very interested when this idea was mooted to me.
What has your experience been like, dealing with CFOs over the years?
In Uganda we run a CFO academy. That's one of the reasons again why I got very interested in the CFO East Africa Awards. And I have also participated as a judge in the Ugandan CFO awards run by the ACCA.
So, when you ask me what my experience is, working with accountants, I would rather change the question to “why did you start the CFO Academy?” One, it was the realisation that a lot of accountants were progressing from the CFO office to become CEOs. And that seemed to be a natural progression. But very many of them did not have the right soft skills and that is a historical problem. We come from a history of being bean counters.
And if you are a bean counter, sometimes you don't have a good strategic business sense. Your default mode is control rather than taking risk. So, we have been running the CFO Academy in Uganda for the last five years.
And we have had quite a number of our participants progress to become CEOs. The testimonies we have from them is that the CFO Academy has trained them in leadership. It has trained them in understanding risk.
It has also trained them in managing people, dealing with people in the workplace. It has also helped them appreciate reporting to boards. So, there is lots of anecdotal evidence here in terms of what we have achieved. This makes the CFO Academy a very useful launching pad for the CFOs on their journey to the corner office.
What attributes then are you going to be looking for to distinguish the average CFO from an exceptional CFO?
For me, an exceptional CFO, first of all, must have the basics. They must have a knack for the numbers. Most of these guys have a knack for the numbers. But beyond that, I am looking for a CFO who is critical in terms of thinking. I want a CFO who is innovative and accepting of new ideas. One who is willing to experiment, try new things. I want a CFO who has got good people skills.
And I want a CFO who has got the capacity to add value to the business. Actually, in the CFO Academy, we are changing and trying to tell the people, look, you are not just a CFO, you are the chief value officer. I want a well-rounded CFO who is a chief value officer, because you are like the counsel to the CEO. You are the main advisor to the CEO. I want to see that you are able to add value to the ideas that the CEO shares with you.
Why do you think it's a good idea to have awards for CFOs?
Awards enable us to recognise high performance. They also inspire others to perform better. When we have these kinds of activities, we create networks. We create networks where we share ideas and eventually this ends up in innovation.
So, I think this is a very transformational process for how CFOs look at themselves. For those who go through this, I am sure they will never be the same. And then for those who win, usually you know they will go on to greater things. And that's what we need. It's also a form of talent development. I am very happy to participate because this is just right down my lane.
What advice would you give to CFOs who aspire to be award winners?
As in all professions, getting to be a CFO is a journey. For those who know where they are going and are not like Alice in Wonderland, the journey is that much easier. I think part of this process would help the young aspiring CFOs to understand what is required of them to become outstanding.
Part of that is excellence in terms of technical ability. Excellence in terms of their training processes. Making sure that they are well rounded and they have learned all the aspects of the business.
And then, most importantly, being ambitious in terms of progressing. That ambition can only come from continuous learning. So, we want CFOs who are continuously learning and are becoming well rounded.
One of the things you could also be looking at, besides being a CFO, is what is your community involvement? What are the other activities that you're doing to impact your community? And I think that's very important.
